In the morning news, I was told that plum blossoms had bloomed in Hakodate, Hokkaido.  The cherry blossoms have already bloomed, and it seems that the cherry blossom season in Hokkaido is about to begin.  In Kansai, Yoshino’s Oku Senbon is in full bloom now.  Meanwhile, information on the best time to see tulips has been arriving from all over Japan.  Like cherry blossoms and roses, tulips also bloom all over Japan from Hokkaido to Okinawa, coloring the spring season.  However, Okinawa has a subtropical climate, so it is not so old that tulips became to be able to be seen.  It was said that tulips do not grow in warm Okinawa because they usually bloom in spring after a cold winter period.  After refrigerating the bulbs and selecting the varieties at the Tropical Dream Center in Okinawa, it seems that the tulips have become to bloom earlier than anywhere else by using the climate of Okinawa.  The best time to see tulips is in January in Okinawa and late May in Hokkaido, and during that time, you can see magnificent tulip scenery all over Japan, so Japan beats even the originator Netherlands in tulips.

朝のニュースで北海道函館で梅が開花したと伝えていました。桜はすでに開花し、これからが花見シーズンだそうです。関西では吉野の奥千本が見頃位です。そんな中、各地からチューリップの見頃情報が届いています。チューリップも桜、薔薇と同様に、北海道から沖縄まで日本全国で咲き、春の季節を彩ります。ただ沖縄は亜熱帯気候なので、チューリップが見られる様になったのはそんなに古いことではありません。チューリップは通常、冬の低温期間のあと春に開花するため、温暖な沖縄では育たないと言われていました。沖縄の熱帯ドリームセンターでは球根の冷蔵、品種選定を行ったあと、沖縄の気候を利用してどこよりも早いチューリップの開花を実現し、今に至ったようです。沖縄では１月、北海道では５月下旬がチューリップの見頃で、その間、日本中で壮大なチューリップの景色が見られるわけですから、本家オランダも顔負けです。

Kinme-Dai(Splendid alfonsino) is widely distributed worldwide from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean and from the tropics of the Indian Ocean to the temperate regions.  It is a completely different variety from Ma-Dai(red sea bream).  It is widely distributed in the waters near Japan, but it is mainly caught along the Pacific coast from off the eastern coast of Kanto to the Ogasawara Islands and Okinawa.  Among them, the ones caught from off Boso to the Izu Peninsula and around the Izu Islands are landed at Shimoda Port, which is the largest landing volume in Japan.  At Shimoda Port, there are many high-quality, greasy fish in the vicinity of Oshima, and the Kinmedai caught by single fishing is branded as “Ji-Kinme” or “Toro-Kinme” and has become a high-class Kinme-Dai.  The freshly landed Kinme-Dai is bright red and has big eyes and shines golden.  There is a theory that if it is landed in the same color as Ma-Dai in the deep sea, it will turn red, while there is also theory that if it is red in the deep sea, this red will look black and become a protective color.

金目鯛は太平洋から大西洋、インド洋の熱帯から温帯域と世界的に広く分布しています。真鯛とは全く別品種です。日本近海にも広く分布しますが、主に関東東沖から小笠原諸島、沖縄までの太平洋沿岸で漁獲されています。中でも房総沖から伊豆半島、伊豆諸島周辺で獲れたものが下田港に水揚げされ、水揚げ量では日本一となっています。下田港では、大島近辺では脂がのった上質のものが多く、そこで一本釣りで獲れたキンメダイを「地金目」または「トロ金目」よ呼ばれブランド化され、高級金目鯛となっています。水揚げされたばかりの金目鯛は真っ赤な朱色で目が大きくて金色に輝いています。深海では真鯛と同じ色で水揚げされたら赤くなると言う説と、深海でも赤くて、深海ではこの赤が黒く見え、保護色になっていると言う説があります。

Kogane-Nohzen is a Japanese name named in 1978.  The tree is native to Brazil and Colombia, and is over 5m tall.  In Brazil, this group is called “Ipe” in Indio’s language, and it is familiar as a national flower like Japanese cherry blossoms.  Introduced in Okinawa Prefecture from Brazil in 1974, it is gradually spreading nationwide, but it is still a rare tree.  In Osaka, it is planted in the Nagai Park Botanical Garden in Osaka City.  In Okinawa, this flower is called “Ippei”, and there is a street called “Ippei-dori”, and there are also festivals.  The Japanese name, Kogane-Nohzen, is written in Kanji as “黄金凌霄” which means “a flower that surpasses Sky”.  The English name is Golden Trumpet Tree, which means “yellow trumpet-shaped flower” and is very easy to understand.  March-April is the best time to see the flowers, and as a flower to celebrate graduates and new students, it is as pleasing as cherry blossoms.

コガネノウゼンは1978年に命名された和名です。ブラジルからコロンビア辺りが原産の樹木で、5m以上になります。ブラジルではインディオの言葉でこの仲間を「イペー」と呼び、国花として日本の桜並みに親しまれています。沖縄県に1974年ブラジルから導入され、徐々に全国に広がりつつありますが、まだまだ珍しい木です。大阪では大阪市の長居公園植物園に植えられています。沖縄では、この花をイッペーと呼び、『イッペー通り』という街路があり、お祭りもあるそうです。和名のコガネノウゼンは漢字で「黄金凌霄」と書き、凌霄は「霄(そら)を凌(しの)ぐ花」と言う意味です。英名はGolden Trumpet Treeで「黄色いラッパ状の花」と言う意味でとても分かり易いです。３〜４月が花の見頃で卒業生、新入生を祝う花として、桜と同じように喜ばれています。

Yamabuki flowers are in full bloom in the sunny spot of the bush.  Speaking of Yamabuki, I immediately remember Ota Dokan.  When Dokan Ota tries to rent a Mino(straw raincoat) at a farmhouse, the daughter offers a branch of Yamabuki(Japanese kerria) instead of the Mino.  Her daughter responded that there was no Mino, in line with Waka “Seven-folded and double-flowered flowers are blooming, but I am sad that Yamabuki has nothing of the fruits”.   Dokan, who did not know the Tanka, got angry with his daughter and left.  It is well known that Dokan, who was ashamed of his ignorance later, mastered the field of Waka.  Dokan was a warrior in the Warring States period with many anecdotes such as being impressed by a frog trying to jump on a willow and becoming a master of calligraphy.  Dokan also built Edo Castle.  Ota Dokan must have been a military commander who excels in both literary and military arts.  Yamabuki is a flower that has been popular since the time of “Manyoshu”, and the bright reddish Yamabuki color is warm, not pure yellow.  Yamabuki color is also called golden color, and in the Edo period, “Yamabuki” was also a cant word for “bribery koban”.

薮の日だまりに山吹の花が色鮮やかに咲いています。山吹と言えば直ぐ思い出すのは太田道灌です。太田道灌が農家で蓑を借りようとすると、娘が蓑の代わりにヤマブキの枝を差し出します。娘は、『後拾遺集』の「七重八重花は咲けども山吹の実の一つだになきぞ悲しき」に準えて、蓑は一つもありませんと応えたのです。歌を知らなかった道灌は娘に立腹して立ち去ります。後にその無知を恥じた道灌は歌の道を極めたという話しは有名です。道灌は柳に飛び付こうとするカエルに胸に打たれ、書道の達人になったとか、こうした逸話が沢山ある戦国時代の武将です。江戸城を築造したのも道灌です。太田道灌は文武両道に秀でた武将だったのでしょう。山吹は『万葉集』の時代から親しまれてきた花で、純然たる黄色ではなく、鮮やかな赤みを帯びた山吹色は温かみを感じます。山吹色は黄金色とも呼ばれ、江戸時代には『山吹』と言えば「賄賂の小判」の隠語でもありました。

Murouji is a mountain temple located in Murou, deep in the Nara Basin and near the border of Mie Prefecture.  Due to the volcanic terrain of Murou, there are many strange rocks and caves, and the caves were dragon holes, that is, sacred places of ancient religions that gathered the belief of rain as a resident of the dragon god.  Eventually, Nara Buddhism, which was introduced from China, was organized as the Nanto Rikushu, and Murouji was built here as the branch temple of Kofukuji, the main temple of the Hosso sect.  After that, Murouji Temple strengthened the esoteric Buddhism of Heian Buddhism (Shingon Buddhism, Tendai Buddhism), but it was still the branch temple of Kofukuji Temple.  After then, in the Edo period, it became a Shingon sect temple with the backing of Keishoin, the mother of Tsunayoshi Tokugawa. Koyasan, the base of the Shingon sect, was once banned from women, but Murouji, where women were allowed to visit from that time, was given another name, “Women’s Koyasan.”  At the entrance of the mountain gate, which is watched by the red and blue statues of Nio, there is a large stone monument deeply engraved with “Woman Koyasan Murouji”.

室生寺は奈良盆地の奥深く、三重県境に近い室生の地にある山岳寺院です。室生の地は火山性地形のため、奇岩や洞穴が多く、洞穴は竜穴、すなわち竜神の住み家として雨乞い信仰を集めた古代宗教の聖地でした。やがて中国から伝来した奈良仏教は南都六宗として纏まり、その内の法相宗大本山である興福寺の末寺として、この地に建てられたのが室生寺です。その後、室生寺は平安仏教(真言宗、天台宗)の密教色を強めるものの、なお興福寺の末寺でしたが、江戸時代に入って、徳川綱吉の母である桂昌院の後ろ盾もあって真言宗寺院になりました。そして真言宗の拠点である高野山がかつては女人禁制でしたが、当時から女性の参詣が許されていた室生寺には「女人高野」の別名がつけられたわけです。赤と青の仁王像が見守る山門入り口には「女人高野室生寺」と深く刻まれた大きな石碑が立っています。

Bright blue-purple flowers are blooming here and there in the strawberry field.  It is a flower of Rurijisa.  The English name is Borage.  The flowers that begin to bloom are pink, but gradually turn into a cool sky blue.  The blue color of borage is also called “Madonna blue” because it was used when drawing the blue garment of the Virgin Mary.  Borage has long been known to have various medicinal properties and is used for food and especially as an herb.  In the West, it is said that knights drank herbal tea to boost morale, but the effect of encouraging people is not an one-side belief, and modern science has confirmed that borage secretes adrenaline against fear and stress and is effective against depression.  In addition, since bees flock to the borage flowers, they are planted for pollination of strawberries and collection of honey.

イチゴ畑のあちらこちらに鮮やかな青紫色の花が咲いています。ルリジサ(瑠璃苣)の花です。英語名はボリジです。咲き始めの花はピンク色ですが、しだいに涼しげなスカイブルーに変わります。ルリジサの青色は聖母マリアの青い衣を描く時に使われたことから「マドンナ・ブルー」とも呼ばれています。ルリジサは昔からいろいろの薬効がある事が知られていて、食用や特にハーブとして使われています。西洋では、騎士が士気を上げる為にハーブティーにして飲んだそうですが、人を勇気付けるという効果は決して思いこみではなく、現代的な科学によって、恐怖やストレスに対してアドレナリンを分泌させ、鬱などに効能があることが確認されています。また、ルリジサの花には蜂が群がることから、イチゴの受粉や蜂蜜の採取の為に植栽されます。

Sakura is associated with a samurai, and Hanamizuki is associated with a woman.  Sakura has the magnificence of overwhelming the scenery around them, but Hanamizuki seems to blend in with the scenery around them and bloom gracefully.  The sound of Hanamizuki is very good and has a soothing sound;

“You are a lightly blushing precious one,
I hope the never ending dream
Will finally come to an end
I hope you and your beloved
Last for a hundred years”

“Hanamizuki”, which Hitoto sang the sad feelings, because her friend died in the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001 and the friend had a child, was featured in school textbooks;

“Since its release in 2004, Hanamizuki has become a well-known pop song in Japan. Interestingly enough, however, few listeners recognize in the lyrics Hitoto Yo’s message of peace, believing it is merely a love song.”

“Hanamizuki” is not a lyric love song, but a song with a feeling for peace.
Hanamizuki also has a history of being donated to the city of Tokyo by the wife of the then US President Taft in 1915, in return for Ozaki (then mayor of Tokyo) ‘s donations, cherry blossom saplings, in 1912.
Hanamizuki, a symbol of goodwill between Japan and the United States, expanded its horizons to the “symbol” of “peace” through the song of Ms Hitoto.

桜は武士、花水木は女性を連想します。桜は辺りの景観を圧倒する豪華さがありますが、花水木は辺りの景観に溶け込んで楚々と咲く感じです。ハナミズキと言う音感がとても良く心癒される響きがあります。

「薄紅色の可愛い君のね　　果てない夢がちゃんと　終わりますように　君と好きな人が　百年続きますように」

一青窈が2001年の「9・11」同時多発テロで、彼女の友人が亡くなり、しかもその友人に子供がいたことから、その切ない気持ちを歌った「ハナミズキ」は学校の教科書にも取り上げられました。

“Since its release in 2004, Hanamizuki has become a well-known pop song in Japan. Interestingly enough, however, few listeners recognize in the lyrics Hitoto Yo’s message of peace, believing it is merely a love song.”
（「『ハナミズキ』は2004年にリリースされてから、日本ではポップソングとしてよく知られるようになった。しかし興味深いことに、一青さんが歌詞の中に平和へのメッセージをこめていると気が付いた人はほとんどおらず、単なるラブソングであると信じている」）

「ハナミズキ」は抒情的な恋愛ではなく、平和への思いが込められた歌だったのです。
ハナミズキはまた、尾崎行雄氏（当時は東京市長）が1912年、当時の米大統領タフトの夫人に桜の苗木を贈り、その返礼として15年にハナミズキが東京市に寄贈されたいう歴史があります。
日米親善の象徴であるハナミズキは、一青さんの歌によって「平和」という“象徴”へもすそ野を広げました。

Yaguruma-giku(the cornflowers) begin to bloom as Tango-no-Sekku(the Boys’ Festival) approaches.  At the same time, Koi-nobori(carp streamers) begin to be noticeable.  The arrow wheel on the top of Koi-nobori is ringing in the breeze of spring.  The cornflower native to Southeastern Europe, which has a strong Mediterranean climate, is called cornflower and was originally a weed that blooms in wheat fields.  From the end of April to the beginning of summer, flowers such as blue, purple, peach and white bloom.  Among them, the beauty of bluish purple is called cornflower blue, and it is so much that it is referred to the color of the finest sapphire.  It is displayed on the casket of King Tutankhamen of Egypt, and Marie Antoinette likes to use it for the pattern of Western tableware, and it seems that its noble beauty has been attracting attention from ancient times.

端午の節句が近くなると、ヤグルマギクが咲き始めます。それと共に鯉のぼりが目に付き始めます。鯉のぼりのてっぺんの矢車が春の微風にカラカラと鳴っています。地中海気候的な要素が強い南東ヨーロッパ原産のヤグルマギクはコーンフラワーと呼ばれ、元は麦畑に咲く雑草でした。４月の終わり頃から初夏にかけ、青・紫・桃・白などの花を咲かせます。中でも青紫色の美しさはコーンフラワーブルーと言って、最高級のサファイアの色味の引き合いに出される程です。エジプトのツタンカーメン王の棺の上に飾られていたり、マリー・アントワネットが洋食器の模様に好んで使ったり、古来からその高貴な美しさには注目されていたようです。

Negoroji Temple is located in Iwato City, Wakayama Prefecture.  Kakuban, a priest of Koyasan in the latter half of the Heian period, who was said to be a eminent priest since Kukai, built a hall Temple on Koyasan.  With the faith of Emperor Toba, he tried to rebuild the belief of Koyasan, which had corrupted at that time, and to revive the doctrine of Kukai, the founder of the sect.        However, the priests of Koyasan rebelled against this, and an incident occurred in which the temple of Kakuban Sect was burned down by the opposition in Koyasan.  In the wake of this incident, Kakuban Sect went down Koyasan and moved to the current location of Negoroji Temple.  At the end of the Muromachi period, it became a large temple with 2,700 priest’s houses  and a large military group of more than 10,000 monk soldiers called Negoro-shu.  After then they  built a friendly relationship by cooperating with Nobunaga Oda.  Negoro-shu has become a large armed group that appears in history textbooks, but after that they also confronted Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and finally, due to Hideyoshi’s attack against Saika people (Kishuu conquest), the temple was left with several buildings such as Daishido and Oto, but everything else was burnt down.

和歌山県岩戸市に根来寺があります。平安時代後期の高野山の僧で空海以来の学僧と言われた覚鑁が高野山に一堂を建て、鳥羽天皇の帰依もあって、当時堕落していた高野山の信仰を建て直し、宗祖・空海の教義を復興しようと努めました。しかし高野山内の衆徒はこれに反発し、覚鑁一門の寺院が高野山内の反対勢力により焼き討ちされるという事件が発生しました。この事件をきっかけに覚鑁一門は高野山を下りて、現在の根来寺の地に拠点を移しました。室町時代末期には、坊舎2700を数え、根来衆と呼ばれる僧兵一万余の一大軍事集団を擁した大寺院になり、種子島から伝来したばかりの火縄銃の鉄砲隊をいち早く設け、石山合戦には織田信長に協力するなど友好関係を築きました。根来衆は歴史教科書にものる一大武力集団になりましたが、その後豊臣秀吉とも対立し、最後には、秀吉の雑賀攻め(紀州征伐)によって、大師堂、大塔など数棟を残して寺は焼け落ちました。

There are three kanji that apply to Umashi.    It’s “甘し”(sweet), “旨し”(delicious), and “美し”(beautiful).  In modern language, “Umai” means that food is delicious, and “Umai” is a bit vulgar, and men usually use it, but women don’t use it much.  “Oishii” is used by both women and men, and is a slightly more elegant word than “Umai”.  “Oishii” is often written as “美味しい”, but this is a substitute character, probably a phonological change from the Chinese word “hao chi”.  In the old language, “甘し(Umasi)” means this. “Umashi” is also used in modern language to mean “delicious” and means that the food is delicious, but also is used in the style of saying “this picture is well” or “it’s a sweet job”. So we also use “Umashi” by means of that we are satisfied.  “Umashi Kuni(Beautiful country)” is almost an idiom and literally means the most honorific word such as beautiful, wonderful, or elegant. That’s why, the above haiku was read as “Umashi kana Takenoko gohan no Umashi Kuni,” and means, “What a wonderful country Japan to have such delicious bamboo shoot rice!”.

うましには三つの漢字があります。甘し、旨し、美しの三つです。現代語で「うまい」と言えばまず食べ物がおいしいと言う意味で、「うまい」はちょっと下品な言葉で、男性は普通に使いますが、女性はあまり使いません。「おいしい」は女性も男性も使い、「うまい」よりやや上品な言葉です。「おいしい」はよく「美味しい」と書きますが、これは当て字で、恐らく中国語の「好吃(ハオチー)」から音韻変化したものと思われます。古語では「甘し(うまし)」がこの意味を表します。「旨し(うまし)」も現代語で「旨い(うまい)」と言って、食べ物がおいしいと言う意味で使いますが、「この絵は旨い」とか「旨い仕事だ」だとか言う風にも使いますから、「旨し」は満足がいくと言う意味なんでしょう。「美し国(うましくに)」はほぼ慣用語で、文字通り美しいとか、素晴らしいとか、麗しいといった最敬語の意味を持ちます。と言うことで、上の俳句は「うましかな　たけのこけのこごはんの　うましくに」と読み、「美味しいなあ、この筍ご飯が頂ける、なんと素晴らしい国日本なんでしょう」と詠んだつもりです。